Some of the many plants at Lettuce Lake Park.
I caught a quick glimpse of a black bellied whistling duck family. They were passing through under the boardwalk and headed into the swamp. They paused for a few minutes and I snapped the above. The babies are so cute. They look like little bumble bees.
A red shoulder hawk greets me as I walk on the trail. Right after I shot the hawk, an eagle flies high over my head.
A snowy egret skimming along the marsh and a great blue heron posing.
I think this is a female indigo bunting. I had heard there were buntings in this part of the trail but I didn’t see any male blue ones. Any confirmation?
One of the many sparrows that hangs out at the intersection of Heron Hideout trail and Eagles Roost trail. Not sure if it’s a Savannah or Swamp,
This little lady flew right in front of me and landed on the tiny stick. She sat there forever.
More black bellied whistling ducks in the marsh.
Same ole gators along the trail.
From my early November visit to Circle B Bar Reserve.
Linking to Wednesday Around the World
Black bellied whistling ducks in the fog across the marsh.
There was lots of activity going on with the whistlers flying back and forth all morning. I was a little bummed that the sky was so dark that morning. Started to drizzle while I was there.
The marsh was full of the whistlers in early November at Circle B Bar Reserve. I haven’t seen this many in several winters. They were all very noisy and unsettled early that Saturday morning.
Up close with a ruddy duck.
And black bellied whistling ducks. One was missing an eye
A pretty lady wood duck.
A very important sign. Even the night heron standing in front of it should not be fed.
“Hooo’s there?” said the burrowing owl.
Crawling critters behind glass.
Growing inside the aquarium, the beauty berry can be see in the many of the parks around Tampa. The birds and critters eat the berries.
On the wall in the aquarium, this would make cool wallpaper.
A few things from a recent trip to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. When it’s too hot to see the fishies from the beach, it’s time to head inside at the aquarium.
I think this is a very young red-eyed vireo.
A prothonotary warbler. They nest here in the summer.
I heard whistling and saw the black bellied whistling ducks on the top of the observation tower, only because there weren’t any people on the tower yet.
I snuck up the first flight of stairs and saw them looking down at me. I didn’t want to scare them off so I went back down and headed away from the tower. After a few minutes someone came down the boardwalk and headed up the tower so they flew off.
Some of the little critters at the lake.
Some young limpkins hiding under a tree near the boardwalk.
Great blue herons were all over the park. Including several sitting on nests.
A green heron was stalking something.
A sparrow hiding in the bushes.
The only black bellied whistling ducks I saw. The park use to be full of them. You could hear their whistling all over the park. I’m not sure why there are only a few now.
The robins were scrounging on the ground for bugs.
A lost royal tern. He should be at the beach.
A wood stork showing off. He was actually moving his foot around on the ground to stir up the bugs, frogs or snakes to eat.
A limpkin taking a break.
I caught a blue gray gnatcatcher being still for just a second.
A red shoulder hawk up high.
A marsh rabbit on Marsh Rabbit Run trail.
A few things I saw on my walk at Circle B Bar Reserve.
Pied grebes were floating everywhere.
There were a handful of glossy ibis.
The lake was full of coots down from the north for the winter.
This guy was right over my car. I took this hanging out the window.
“Stop lady, don’t drive into the lake” said the great blue heron.
The black bellied whistlers near the end of the drive stayed far out in the marsh.
This lady anhinga had a big gulp.
These big guys were all along the drive. I stopped the car and got out to take these but they were actually across the water.
There’s a lake north of Orlando that has a driving trail along the north shore. I decided to take my sister up there when she was here over the holidays. It was a good way to get out with doing a lot of walking. She had foot surgery recently so she wasn’t up for a long walk. We drove an hour and a half on the Saturday after Christmas to get there early that morning. At first there wasn’t too many cars there but the closer to lunch it got, the more cars were on the drive. I did see a few more birds than the ones above but only got distant blurry shots of a northern harrier, several bald eagles, a merlin and lots of tiny birds far out in the marsh.
Fly on a sign. Notice the hair on his bottom.
Berries waiting to be eaten.
This blue-gray gnatcatcher was posing for me.
They don’t have any bright colors but their personality makes up for it.
The number of limpkins at the reserve seem lower than in the past. I only saw a few on this visit.
Yummy breakfast.
I’ve been seeing a lot of pileated woodpeckers lately.
Anhinga posing in front of the yellow flowers.
A great blue heron prancing down the trail.
The black bellied whistlers didn’t seem to mind the glossy ibis getting so close.
In a huddle.
Hiding in the yellow flowers.
The usual alligator close to the trail.
The first week in December was perfect. Cool sunny days. I had to get out for yet another long walk at Circle B Bar Reserve.
It was a foggy morning at Circle B Bar Reserve when I headed out on the trail in late January. The above tree is usually filled with birds. Not a one in sight.
Almost as thick as pea soup. It was very humid even though it didn’t feel warm.
It looked like Alligator Alley trail was the foggiest. People were still heading down the trail in the fog.
You can really see the spider webs on a day like this.
A tribute to Alfred Hitchcock. A tree full of vultures across the marsh.
Female red-winged blackbirds along the trail.
“Run Forrest Run!” says the black bellied whistling duck across the marsh in the fog.
I didn’t realize how the sides of the trails were full of spider webs.
A sandhill crane out in the marsh. This is where they nested two years ago in March but they were just cruising by the morning I was there.
The sun was finally starting to peek through after an hour. It turned out to be a nice day even though I felt like I was walking around in a shower. Everything was wet from the fog and humidity. When I left Tampa earlier that morning the sun was coming up bright. The farther into central Florida I got, the worse the fog got. At first I was crushed that the sun wasn’t out but it was kind of cool walking around in the fog. The reserve was full of people like it usually is in the winter so it wasn’t like I was alone. By 10am there were traffic jams on the trails.
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My first gadwall. I haven’t even heard of them being in the Tampa bay area before. I didn’t know they were at Circle B Bar Reserve until I was standing on the trail thinking that these ducks didn’t quite look like mallards. I asked another birder standing by that I knew was an expert birder and he told me what they were. It was a cloudy morning and if the sun had been out I would have only gotten a blob taking this right into the sun. The male is in front, female in back.
A male ring neck duck was swimming in between the gadwall couple.
There was a little confrontation over space between the two males.
Two males and a female swimming together.
They are pretty with all of the different beige color patterns.
Ring neck ducks trying to rule the pond.
The usual black bellied whistlers.
Whistler duck butts. Even their bottoms are cute.
Busy preening before a nap.
Standing at attention.
The marshes were full of them.
A sora rail sighting. They aren’t very common at the park. This one was pretty far out in the marsh so this is heavily cropped.
These were taken right after Christmas. After a week of sun and warm weather, I finally had a chance to head out to Circle B Bar Reserve and a dark blanket of clouds stayed over the park the entire 4 hours I was there. At least it was not hot out and I was excited to add a new duck to my list. I keep hearing there are bufflehead duck sightings but I can’t seem to find them anywhere. I’ll keep looking.
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